Friday, 16 September 2011

TAX DEDUCTED ON SOURCE ON TRAVEL AGENT

"whether tds should be deducted u/s 194C for payment made to travel agent for booking of airline tickets by a company for its employee(s)"?

The following general conditions should be satisfied for a payment to qualify for deduction of tax u/s 194C

1.Payee:The contract should be entered by the following specific person

Central government

state govt or Local authority

Cent or State Corp. covered estb. under Cent./state act

Any co-operative society

Any company

Any authority constituted In India under or b the law for town planning and other specific work as defined

any society

any Trust

any firm

any University with specific conditions

Societies register under the specific acts

any firm

any HUF?individual if turnover exceeding 40lacs or profession receipt exceeds 10lakh in immediate preceding year

from 01.06.2008 any AOP /BOI

2.payer

Resident contractor

payment to subcontractor by resident contractor

3.work

contract between payer and payee for "carrying out any work"

Including supply of labour for carrying out any work.

So in general three basic genral condition should be fulfilled to make a payment eligible for deduction of tax at source u/s 194C.if any one of three content/condition is missing ,then section 194C will not be applicable.

so where the contract is between contractor and Huf or individual for personal purpose it will not be covered under section 194C and tax will not be deductible.

In this case of payment to travel agent for booking of airline tickets ,the contract is between individual and airline company though payment is made by the company so tds is not deductible.

CBDT Clarificatary circulaor:

CBDT has issued a detailed circular no 715 on tds u/s 194C,194I and 194J dated 8.8.1995 ,In which 34 question has been dealt .In this circular question number 6 relates to payment made to travel agent/airline for booking of tickets ,It has been clarified in the circular that notwithstanding the payment has been made by the payee list mentioned as above ,but the contract of purchasing the ticket is between individual passenger and the airline/travel agent ,so tax should not be deducted.

the relevant part of the circular is reproduced here under for your ready reference

"Question 6 : Whether payment under a contract for carriage of goods or passengers by any mode of transport would include payment made to a travel agent for purchase of a ticket or payment made to a clearing and forwarding agent for carriage of goods ?

Answer : The payments made to a travel agent or an airline for purchase of a ticket for travel would not be subjected to tax deduction at source as the privity of the contract is between the individual passenger and the airline/travel agent, notwithstanding the fact that the payment is made by an entity mentioned in section 194C(1). The provision of section 194C shall, however, apply when a plane or a bus or any other mode of transport is chartered by one of the entities mentioned in section 194C of the Act. As regards payments made to clearing and forwarding agent for carriage of goods, the same shall be subjected to tax deduction at source under section 194C of the Act.

hence the No tax should be deducted u/s 194C on payment made to travel agent/airline for booking of tickets.This rule is also applicable on other transport medium like rail booking also.